birds

General - Birds in various forms feature in many mythologies. (1) In Australia the Aborigines regard birds as their original gods. (2) The Buddhists say that Garuda, half man, half eagle, is the transport of the gods. (3) Celtic lore regards birds as the souls of the dead. (4) In the East Indies, the islanders of New Britain say that a bird and a stone, offspring of the sun and the moon, became the progenitors of the human race when the bird turned into a woman and the stone into a man. (5) The Finns, like the Celts, regard birds as the souls of the dead. (6) In Persia birds were regarded as the transmitters of wisdom. (7) In the Pacific Islands, birds are referred to in stories where they act as messengers for the gods, appear as deities who lay eggs from which islands emerge and are sent to locate dry land after the flood. (8) In Siberia the thunder-god can be a bird and a raven is sent to assess the size of the expanding world. They also talk of the bucu, a bird said to help the shaman when he travels the world. (9) The Sumerians say that the dead in the underworld take the form of birds. (10) A universal story tells of a bird sitting in the tree of life near a pool in which lives a monster (a fish, serpent, dragon or toad) which holds back the waters. This bird often battles with the monster to release the waters. In some accounts, known as birds, animals, animals, sacred animals, phoenix, phoenix, Phoinix, Poua-Kai, simurgh, sacred birds, sacred birds, Ainu Ahura Mazda, Amaterasu, Apollo, Athena, Helius, Hermes, Mercury, Mithra, Nyx, Tammuz, Zas Arawn, Artemis, China, Fukurokuju, Kwannon, Lares, Mannanan, Perseus, Shou Shen, Thoth Apollo, Asclepius, Angerbode Brac, Cronus, Odin, Saturn, Yama Juno Aphrodite, Astarte Ararjatis, Ataragatis, Hachiman, Venus Dusara, Jupiter Egypt Apollo, Baba, Brahma, Dionysus, Egypt, Eros, Epona, Hera, Horus, Iris, Juno, Kaltesh, Mars, Ops, Osiris, Seb, Thoth, Vishnu Isis Apollo, Here, Tethys Zoastrianism Asclepius, Inara Ketu, Minerva Brahma, Lakshmi, Sarasvati Apollo, Melkarth Asclepius, Noah, Odin Saturn Aphrodite, Venus Hera, Sweden Aphrodite, Isis Aphrodite, Venus Aztecs, Maya Apollo, Ares Heracles, Isis, Izanagi or Izanami Ares Triptolemus Amaterasu.